{"691058":{"#nid":"691058","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Zhu Receives NSF CAREER Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/weizhumath\/home\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWei Zhu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E, has been awarded a five-year,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/show-award?AWD_ID=2540370\u0022\u003E$500,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E (NSF). The CAREER Award, NSF\u2019s most prestigious honor for early-career faculty, helps promising researchers establish a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in their fields. Zhu\u2019s award will support research and education initiatives focused on artificial intelligence (AI).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am very honored and excited to receive the NSF CAREER Award,\u201d says Zhu. \u201cThis award will support research by my fantastic team of students and post-doctoral researchers and give me the opportunity to carry out education and outreach programs that expand our impact.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvancing AI Applications\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESince joining Georgia Tech in 2024, Zhu\u2019s research has focused on the mathematical foundations of machine learning and their applications in science and engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWith support from the CAREER Award, Zhu and his team will explore the two-way relationship between data and structure in machine learning. They aim to understand how known structures in scientific and engineering problems (e.g., symmetries or physical constraints) can help machine learning models learn more accurately and efficiently from limited data. They will also study how machine learning can uncover hidden structures directly from data, revealing patterns or principles that may not be known in advance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe project focuses on settings where large amounts of high-quality data are difficult or expensive to obtain, as is often the case in science and engineering. Using mathematical analysis, Zhu and his team will examine how much data is required to accurately learn a model, how structural information can reduce this data requirement, and how much data is needed to reliably identify a model\u2019s underlying structure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EAccording to Zhu, this approach could reduce the amount of data and time needed to build and test accurate models, leading to more reliable, interpretable, and efficient AI for scientific discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cSuch advances align with national AI priorities and help strengthen the mathematical foundations needed for future scientific and engineering applications of AI,\u201d he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExpanding AI Literacy\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EZhu believes it is important to help students understand AI, noting that they must learn how to interpret and evaluate its outputs rather than accept them\u0026nbsp;uncritically.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cAI has increasingly become incorporated into many fields of study,\u201d he says. \u201cInstitutions must determine how to best integrate it into education while also teaching students how it works. The AI education and outreach components of my project aim to help prepare students for careers at the intersection of mathematics, computing, and science.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EZhu\u2019s CAREER Award will support educational initiatives at multiple levels, including new graduate and undergraduate courses on machine learning. It will also support a machine learning boot camp for high school students, organized by the School of Mathematics in collaboration with Emory University\u2019s Department of Mathematics. The boot camp seeks to introduce students to foundational ideas in AI and machine learning, with an emphasis on the mathematical principles needed to understand and responsibly use these tools.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMathematics Assistant Professor Wei Zhu has been awarded a five-year,\u0026nbsp;$500,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The award will support Zhu\u0027s research and education initiatives focused on artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Mathematics Assistant Professor Wei Zhu has been awarded a five-year,\u00a0$500,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2026-07-07 16:18:34","changed_gmt":"2026-07-07 16:41:26","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-07-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-07-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680568":{"id":"680568","type":"image","title":"Wei Zhu of the School of Mathematics","body":null,"created":"1783441160","gmt_created":"2026-07-07 16:19:20","changed":"1783441160","gmt_changed":"2026-07-07 16:19:20","alt":"Headshot of Wei Zhu","file":{"fid":"264846","name":"wei_zhu_mathematics.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/07\/07\/wei_zhu_mathematics.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/07\/07\/wei_zhu_mathematics.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2399324,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/07\/07\/wei_zhu_mathematics.png?itok=abwEK1tx"}}},"media_ids":["680568"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"193356","name":"cos-math"},{"id":"192258","name":"cos-data"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Lindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lvidal@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}